VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

maker

KidWind- A Makerspace STEM Initiative

As a retired K-12 teacher and member of a community makerspace called Makersmiths, I volunteer as an educational liaison, working with families seeking opportunities for their children to become involved in STEM activities. One of Makersmiths initiatives is the KidWind-Virginia Challenge. During the 2018-2019 school year, I volunteered with two other Makersmiths members to sponsor two KidWind teams.

The teams learned about wind energy, how to design, create and test their blades on turbine stands. They learned to use multimeters and a Vernier Go Direct Sensor that uses Graphical Analysis software to determine their wind turbines’ energy production. At the spring 2019 KidWind-Virginia challenge event, the high school team won first place with their 3D printed blades and homemade generator producing the most energy and the middle school team earned two awards for their knowledge of wind energy initiatives, and for best documented blade design development.

photo of a high school maker project photo of a maker project, a large fan

Excited about their KidWind Challenge successes, our middle school students wanted to learn Tinkercad to design new blades and use 3D printers and a laser printer to construct blades for the 2020 wind turbine competition.

photo of student working at computer photo of wind turbine project

However, COVID-19 postponed the competition until spring 2021. We still held weekly meetings using Google Meet to offer advice as students completed their KidWind projects at home. I built the KidWind Challenge website to provide the students with information they needed to know about wind turbines. Since the middle school students also wanted to compete in the 2021 Kidwind Solar Structure Challenge, I built a solar structure website, too.

The students experimented with items such as solar panels, LEDs, switches, fans and water pumps found in their KidWind solar kits obtained from the JMU’s Center for the Advancement of Sustainable Energy (CASE) that sponsors KidWind-Virginia. The five middle school students eventually formed three teams that won first, second and third place awards in the middle school KidWind-VA 2021 Solar Structure Challenge. What were their projects?

photo of maker projectFirst place winners Connor, Caleb and Soren wanted to build a Kiosk solar project that contains a sound box. The sound box detects movement and plays a train sound whenever someone walks by it.  The purpose of the sound is to catch the attention of that person and draw them back to the kiosk to read displayed information.

In order for sound box batteries to remain charged, the boys used three rechargeable batteries wired to two solar panels on a platform at the top of the kiosk. Tilted at an optimal angle to capture the direct sunlight during spring and summer, the panel can also be manually rotated to follow the sun.

photo of water filtering projectSecond place winner Katie wanted to find a way to filter pond or stream water to use when watering plants. She created a water filtering system that uses a fish tank with a charcoal filter, two water pumps and three solar panels on a platform that can be adjusted to obtain the optimum angle to capture direct sunlight at different times of the year. The solar panels operate the two water pumps.

photo of project illustrating electrolysisThird place winner Sofi figured out a way to use solar power to run an electrolysis system that separates hydrogen from oxygen in water. The hydrogen would power vehicles instead of using fossil fuels. She first used batteries to produce power to run her electrolysis system, then she switched to using solar power.

When thinking about what our students learned completing KidWind projects, many academic areas come to mind. Students used mathematics to measure when building projects and when completing their experiments, kept a journal to document the scientific data they were collecting, and wrote their procedures and results for judges to read. They had to collaborate to problem-solve and use their oral communication skills to create videos showing their projects in action. Most of all, our students developed maker skills and learned quite a bit about clean energy initiatives.

We would like to start a blog for VSTE members to share their makerspace initiatives. Perhaps you want to ask questions about how to establish a makerspace that ties into STEM initiatives? Let us know what you are thinking or wanting to ask!

Written by Diane D. Painter. Diane is a retired Fairfax County K-12 special education teacher. She teaches curriculum and instruction courses at Shenandoah University and volunteers as an educational liaison at Makersmiths, Inc., a non-profit makerspace in Loudoun County, VA. You can contact Diane through the Makersmiths website.

Get Your Game On With Scratch

Have you always wanted to learn more about programming for yourself and to better support your students? VSTE is offering the PERFECT opportunity!

Bea Leiderman, Scratch pro and technology coach, will provide a hands-on, minds-on learning summer learning experience: Game Programming with Scratch. Over the course of three weeks, participants will code a paddle-and-ball game from start to finish. The course will include live virtual meetings with Bea each week along with online activities via the Virtual Virginia Course.

This course is a perfect, facilitated start to learning Scratch. Veterans will benefit from connecting with others and pushing the limit with their Scratch knowledge.Enrollment is limited, and cost is just $30. The first class meets on June 28.

 

Meeting Dates:
Session 1: June 28th
Session 2: July 1st
Session 3: July 8th
Session 4: July 12th
Session 5: July 15th
Session 6: July 19th
Session 7:  July 22nd- Scratch Conference

Learn more and register now.

How I Became a Believer in Maker Education

My first experiences with maker education came while serving students at a juvenile detention center as an Instructional Technology Coach. I knew that maker education had the potential to empower our students and transform how they experienced learning.photo of a bamboo plant Then, one student made me a believer. One August, we had a 17-year-old male enter our facility. He was a newcomer to the United States, his English proficiency was limited, and he had little formal education. The allegations against him were serious and he was struggling with depression and anxiety. He was a student in crisis and nowhere near available for learning.

For months, our school staff struggled to support this student and engage him. One day, we had a breakthrough. The student’ science class was studying plants and had been nurturing beans, avocados, and corn under a grow light. The student started to take an interest in the plants, offering to be their primary caretaker. Seeing this interest, I immediately went to our principal’s office and retrieved her lucky bamboo plant, which was on the brink of death. His science teacher and I challenged the student to revive the principal’s plant.illustration of a 3D model of a planter

I could not have imagined what happened next. Over the course of a few months, the student propagated a new plant from the remains of the old plant and gave it proper nutrients, skills he learned from watching self-selected YouTube videos. He designed and 3D printed a superior container, ensuring the plant’s roots would have better drainage.

Then, he learned the basics of soldering and constructed an Internet of Things device that constantly checked the soil’s moisture level. If the plant’s soil was too dry or too wet, the device would push a notification via Blynk to the principal’s smartphone. He proudly shared his project goals with anyone who would listen, including the center’s administration.

Seeing his project come to life was incredible, but it pales in comparison to the changes within the student. The student’s mental health started to improve, and his confidence grew. His rate of English acquisition exploded. He discovered a love of learning. He no longer wanted to retreat into his cell; he yearned to be in school. The student’s new love of learning drove him to enroll in GED program. Maker education re-made and saved that child. In education, we often speak of teaching the whole child. Witnessing the power of authentic learning convinced me – maker education addresses the whole child and must be available to all students.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a rapid re-imagining of our lives and institutions. As we trailblaze the wildernesses of virtual and concurrent learning, our challenge is to keep learning personal and experiential. Bringing maker culture into our virtual and in-person classrooms is daunting, but possible. If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it has affirmed that there is nothing educators cannot do. The past several months has challenged us in ways we could never have envisioned, but, when I imagine what can be, I find myself energized and full of hope.

Written by Tim Cruz. Tim is the Coordinator of Instructional Technology for Prince William County Public Schools. He is driven by the belief that every child, regardless of situation or circumstance, can accomplish amazing things. Connect with Tim on Twitter at @twcruz.

Implementing a Robotics Competition in Your Classroom

Robotics competitions are currently at the forefront of our ever-changing technological world. In the modern day, it is important to learn skills that will help your students navigate the shift from traditional, old-school technology to newer and more advanced tech.

Robotics competitions can wake up the leader that each student has inside and can strengthen various abilities and skills - both hard and soft - that are needed in the 21st century like computational thinking, self-directed learning, creative problem solving, time management, teamwork and more.

We have no doubt. Robotics competitions can have an extraordinary positive impact on students.

two students working at a computerIt doesn’t have to be expensive: Robotics should promote inclusivity!

Today, implementing a robotics competition in your own classroom doesn’t have to be complicated, nor expensive. The Cyber Robotics Coding Competition (CRCC) is an online robotics tournament that engages students in coding without the need of any hardware, making their preparation even more inclusive. Because, robotics should be for everyone, right?

The Cyber Robotics Coding Competition, organized by the ISCEF foundation, has been held in many states around the US, and in a number of different countries both in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. In each one of these instances, every single student got to practice and work with their very own virtual robot. Expensive hardware? No need!

In Virginia, last year’s finals were held at Virginia Commonwealth University. At the finals, $136,000 worth of scholarships to VCU were awarded to the top 3 teams. 

5 steps to have your own robotics competition in your classroom:crcc award

  1. Join our mailing list! The newsletter will ensure you have the latest information. Additionally, the CRCC team is reachable and accessible, just like the competition itself. You can get in touch with the team if you have additional questions about how to implement a robotics competition in your own classroom. The CRCC team will be there for you during the entire time, ensuring an exclusive, comprehensive, extraordinary learning experience both for you and your students.
  1. Register for CRCC, and let the fun begin! Get your students excited about STEM. Show them how STEM will be present in our everyday lives in the future, and how its different applications will rule the way the workforce of the future structures itself. In order to engage them with this matter, you can talk about the importance of makerspaces, gamified learning environments, or even about the most amazing programming languages for kids. The registration for your classroom/club is $250 or for all teachers and students in your school, only $550. You only need a computer with internet, no robots!
  1. Prepare yourself and your students! Join the teacher professional development webinars hosted in the first weeks of October. Details will be in the newsletter. Learn to program yourself, and your students will see that anyone can do it! Set up your student accounts, and have them complete the Bootcamp missions. Bootcamp can be done in teams or individually. It is important for your students to know that anyone can program their very own virtual robot. These gamified missions and challenges will prepare them for the Qualifier Round. Encourage them to find different ways for them to make their robot complete missions and emphasize that there are a number of different paths to success. The Cyber Robotics Coding Competition platform (CoderZ) uses a friendly and colorful visual editor that enables your students to become programmers without even noticing. Students will even be exposed to how blocks translate into textual language - Java.two girls working at a laptop
  2. Create student teams for the Qualifying Round. Although each student works on an individual account, we recommend to start practicing working in teams of 2. This is how the finals are run. It is important that your students learn how to work in teams, when to lead, and when to be guided. Also, dividing them in teams will encourage collaboration while contributing to the “competition atmosphere” you want to create in the class. Encourage them to name their teams, to divide tasks, and to work together in solving the different challenges. The CRCC includes a leaderboard that students follow, and it motivates them to see their team on the top of the list.
  3. Delve into the Qualifying Round and have fun! Once the qualifying round begins, teams can complete challenges from any Internet-connected computer at anytime.

Join the next Cyber Robotics Coding Competition (CRCC) starting October 14th 2019

Click here for more details

May the code be with you

Written by Trevor Pope. Trevor is the CRCC Competition Master. He has been involved in education technology for two decades. He has been a robotics competitions mentor and has managed both physical and virtual competitions with students across the United States. You can connect with CRCC on Twitter and Instagram.

Leveling Up Student Learning with a Global Inventors Course

Oak Grove students with their global partners

This year, we tried something completely new at Oak Grove Elementary in Roanoke County. Fifth graders have just finished working with Global partners in Nicaragua, Argentina, and Honduras through a Global Inventors course run by Level Up Village--and what an adventure it was.  In this course, students exchanged video messages with their partners and collaborated on designing the case for a solar flashlight using CAD software and a 3D printer.  They also examined the differences between electricity production in the United States and that of their partner’s country and discussed renewable and nonrenewable resources.  Best of all, students made a global friend, and shared aspects of their lives with them, while learning about a different country in a very personal way.

Here are some of the highlights from the course:

Involving the Community

Because we were trying to meet a district initiative to teach Spanish in elementary school, we requested to be partnered with students from Spanish-speaking countries.  High School Spanish students then visited our Fifth graders to teach them basic Spanish phrases they could use in their videos.  They planned the lessons, created handouts, and developed Quizlet games for our students to use as they learned the language. This helped both the Fifth graders communicate with their partners and the high school students practice their Spanish.

Sending Video Messages

Students exchanged video messages with their partners through the Level Up Village platform. In these videos they answered questions posed by the course itself, but also could ask their own questions. It was in this way that the two partners really began to know one another.

Learning CAD Software

In order to learn to use computer aided design (CAD) software called Tinkercad, students first designed nametags. Once they had learned the basics, they began working with their global partner to design the case for a solar flashlight.  They were provided

Student designed solar flashlight

with the electrical components, but had to make sure their measurements were correct so that components would fit in the finished case.  We printed some example solar flashlights about halfway through the project.  Students analyzed these and then used what they learned to finish their final product.

Connecting Live

We had the added bonus of being able to Skype live with our partners.  While this does not always happen, we were lucky enough to be in similar time zones as our partners so were able to work out this experience. Students gave up lunchtime with their friends and recess to be able to talk to their partners 3,000 miles away. They had fun talking, asking questions, and joking with the class in the other country.

Reflecting Using Blogs

After we finished working our way through the curriculum, students used Kidblog to reflect on the project.  When I read their posts, it was evident that they walked away with not only a better understanding of 4th and 5th grade math and science SOLs and an understanding of Central and South America, but also having developed the softer skills of communication and collaboration.

As an Instructional Technology Resource Teacher teaming this project with the classroom teacher, I can definitely say it was one of the best projects I have helped facilitate. The organic learning that took place could have never have happened just by studying these topics in isolation.  By building a relationship with someone in a completely different country, our students made connections and realizations, and developed understanding and empathy that could not have been taught otherwise.  The personal growth I have seen in our students over the past eight weeks has been extraordinary, and I am so proud of them and so grateful for the chance to be part of it.

Smiling woman with award

 

Tina Coffey is an Instructional Technology Resource Teacher for Roanoke County Schools. She is also the Level Up Village US Teacher of the Year for 2017. Connect with her on Twitter @elemitrt.